A team at Manchester University led by Dr Qing-Jun Meng and Professor Judith Hoyland have discovered the disc tissue runs on a time clock. Once disrupted, this rhythmic physiology of the spine has massive implications for sufferers of degenerative disc disease and back pain. The team tracked a 'clock protein' and discovered that removing the body clock from cells in the disc in mice, within 6 months degeneration is very noticeable and the disc is thinner by 20 to 30%. Read more...Read the article abstract here